Air conditioning apparatus



p 1961 A. H. EBERHART 2,999,370

AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 11, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 WITNESSES )NVENTOR ARTHUR I4. EBERHART ATro IwgY Sept. 12, 1961 A. H. EBERHART AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 11, 1960 INVENTOR ARTHUR H-E'BERHART BY J ATTORNEV wlTNESSlS/4M 2,999,370 AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Arthur H. Eberhart, Hilliard, Ohio, assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pin, a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Aug. 11, 1960, Ser. No. 48,937 9 Claims. (Cl. 62-325) This invention relates to air conditioning apparatus of the self-contained type, especially those mountable in the wall opening of a building, and more particularly to air conditioning units that can be used for heating, cooling or dehumidifying air for an enclosure within the building.

Currently marketed air conditioning units of the type set forth are termed heat pumps. These usually include a compact casing which houses a refrigeration system having a valve for reversing the direction of refrigerant flow in switching over from heating to cooling, or vice versa. Flow reversal of refrigerant effects an interchange of the evaporator and condenser functions of the indoor and outdoor heat exchangers.

Air conditioners which reverse refrigerant flow have the advantage of compactness, a feature essential to the commercial success of self-contained units; but this kind of air conditioner otherwise has several disadvantages, including the cost of the reversing valve. Another disadvantage is that the condensate disposal means is more complicated when the heat exchanger functions are interchanged than when they remain fixed.

Some prior art eifoits have involved the use of a refrigeration system in which refrigerant flows unidirectionally, the heat exchanger functions remain fixed, and the air streams brought into contact with the condenser and evaporator are transposed in switching over from heating to cooling, or vice versa. The present invention is directed to improvements in this type of apparatus, and it is principally concerned with an arrangement thereof which may be no less compact than the more expensive kind of air conditioner which reverses the direction of refrigerant fiow.

Glder air conditioners which transpose air streams have used space-consuming plenum chambers or air corridors within the casing, in addition to separate compartments for the condenser and the evaporator. And still others of this type have arranged their heat exchangers and fans so that they must be housed in bulky casings, some casings requiring openings in the top, bottom or side walls of the casing so that air can be admitted or discharged through them. Such older arrangements are not feasible because present day compact casings now tend to be no deeper than the ordinary thickness of a building wall. A substantially flat or shallow casing is desirable because it permits a so-called flush installation wherein the casing does not overhang, or project beyond, either surface of the building wall through which it extends. It can be seen, therefore, that compactness and economy of manufacture are desirable characteristics of self-contained heat pumps.

An air conditioner constructed according to the present invention lends itself to economical construction and the use of a compact casing; and it may be used for dehumidifying and ventilating the conditioned enclosure, besides the customary cooling and heating functions. It oomprises a casing having tubular wall structure extending through an opening in a building wall. The tubular wall structure is closed at one end by a front wall adapted to face indoors, and it is closed at the other end by a rear wall adapted to face outdoors. Within the casing a partition extends from front to rear, dividing the interior of the casing into two compartments, one compartment housing a condenser and means for supplying air thereto. In the other compartment is disposed an evaporator and means for supplying air thereto. The condenser and evaporator, together with a compressor and suitable refrigerant flow connections, form part of a refrigeration circuit utilizing volatile refrigerant which flows undirectionally therethrough.

The front wall and the rear wall of the casing each have openings to the respective compartments. The openings in the front wall provide communication between the compartments and the enclosure; and the openings in the rear wall provide communication between the compartments and the air outdoors. Each of the openings is provided with a suitable closure. The closures are adapted to open the compartments to the enclosure during the dehumidifying operation. During the heating operation the closures are adapted to close the condenser compartment to the outdoors while opening it to the enclosure, and at the same time the evaporator compartment is closed to the enclosure and open to the outdoors. Conversely, the closures are adapted during the cooling operation to open the condenser compartment to the outdoors while closing it to the enclosure, and at the same time the evaporator compartment is open to the enclosure and closed to the outdoors.

It is preferred, in the interest of constructing a compact casing, that each of the heat exchangers be arranged to extend from front to rear, and diagonally across its associated compartment so as to divide the compartment into inlet and outlet chambers which extend from the front wall to the rear wall and are triangular in transverse cross section. The top, bottom and side walls of the casing are imperforate, since their outer surfaces are expected to be in facing contact with the core of the building wall; and, therefore, they will be unusable for admitting or discharging air.

The basic arrangement of the apparatus lends itself to various types of closures, described in detail hereinafter.

The various objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear more fully from the detailed description which follows, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of apparatus embodying the invention mounted in a window opening of a building;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the casing of the apparatus of FIG. 1, taken along line IIII of FIG. 3, and showing a plan of the components of the refrigeration system within the casing;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view through the casing of the apparatus of FIG. 1 showing the interior thereof in elevation;

FIG. 4 is a view, taken in section through the window, window frame, and building wall, showing the apparatus from the side in full;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of one compartment of apparatus of FIG. 1 taken along diagonal line V--V of FIG. 3; however, only one door is open at the front and only one door is open at the rear of the compartment to show how the apparatus may be used for ventilating;

FIG. 6 is a front perspective view of a modified casing which may be employed in an alternate construction of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a front perspective view of still another modified casing which may be employed in an alternate construction of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view through the modified casing of FIG. 6 taken on a diagonal through one compartment thereof along line VIIIVIII;

FIG. 9 is a horizontal sectional view taken through the modified casing of FIG. 7 along line IXIX thereof;

PEG. 10 is a plan view of the casing of FIG. 1 showing the positions of its doors when the apparatus is or or shut down;

FIGS. 11, 12 and 13 are plan views, similar to FIG. 10, showing the positions of the doors of the apparatus during the dehumidifying, cooling, and heating operations, respectively.

The air conditioning unit embodying the invention includes a substantially rectangular parallelpiped cabinet or casing 1%? adapted to be mounted within an opening, such as a window, of a building wall 12 so that a front vertical Wall 14 of the casing faces indoors into the enclosure to. be conditioned, and a rear vertical Wall 16 of the casing faces outdoors. The casing 10 further includes a wrapper or tubular wall structure comprising a horizontal top wall 13, a horizontal bottom wall 2%, and a pair of vertical side walls 22 and 24. It is preferred that the walls 18, 2b, 22 and 24 comprising the wrapper be imperforatc, since their outer surfaces may be placed in facing contact with the core of the building wall 12 surrounding the opening through which it extends.

Within the casing 10 a vertical partition 26, preferably insulated, extends from front to rear in generally paral lel relationship to the side walls 22 and 24 in such a manner between them as to divide the casing interior into a pair of juxtaposed compartments 28 and 3h. The latter each extend from front wall 14- to rear wall 16, and they respectively accommodate a condenser-heat exchanger 32 and an evaporator-heat exchanger 34. Heat ex changers 32 and 34, together with a motor-driven compressor 36 and suitable refrigerant connections, form part of a refrigeration circuit or system in which is employed a unidirectionally flowing, volatile refrigerant.

The heat exchangers 32 and 34 may be of the type that are coiled in fiat serpentine fashion and provided With extended heat transfer surfaces in the form of fins. As best seen in FIG. 3, it is preferred that the heat exchangers 32 and 34 each extend from front to rear and obliquely or diagonally, from corner to corner, in their respective compartments 28 and 34), thus dividing each compartment into an upper, or outlet, chamber and a lower, or inlet, chamber. The inlet and the outlet chambers of each compartment extend from the front wall 14 to the rear wall 16 and they are of generally triangular cross section, taken transversely with respect to their front-to-rear extent. Furthermore, the coils and fins of each heat exchanger are so spaced apart and arranged as to define a passageway permitting communication between the upper chamber and lower chamber of each compartment.

In the outlet chamber of each of the compartments 28 and 30 there is provided air translating apparatus 41 comprising a fan 42, preferably of the mixed-flow type, arranged within a shroud 44 and driven by a motor 45 to draw air from the inlet chamber of its compartment, through its associated heat exchanger and into the outlet chamber where the air is discharged tangentially from the fan. Preferably, each fan motor 45 is disposed in an apical region of its associated chamber, that is, in an upper corner of its compartment at the junction of top and side walls of the casing 10; and the axis of the motor 45 is disposed normal to its associated, diagonally disposed heat exchanger. This arrangement is believed to conserve space, since the diverging outline of each motor and fan combination is fitted to the diverging walls which define the upper corner of casing 10 in which the air translating apparatus 41 is received.

The compressor 36 is located within the condenser compartment 28, preferably the lower chamber thereof, in order that components of the refrigeration system which run hot will be grouped together in one compartment and isolated by the partition 26 from the compart ment 30 which houses the cold running evaporator 34.

It is essential in order to appreciate the present invention to note that the refrigeration circuit employs no reversing valve, since it is intended that the refrigerant shall flow unidirectionally through the system. In order to permit the air conditioning unit to be used for heating,

cooling or dehumidifying enclosure air, the condenser compartment 23 and the evaporator compartment 30 have been arranged side-by-side, and the equivalent effect of reversing the direction of refrigerant flow is obtained by transposing the air streams to the compartments.

The front vertical wall 14 of the casing 10 is provided with openings to the respective compartments 28 and 30. Likewise, the rear vertical wall 16 of the casing is provided with openings to the respective compartments 28 and 30. The openings in the front wall 14 provide communication with the enclosure to be conditioned; and the openings in the rear wall 16 provide communication with the air outdoors. Each opening, however, is divided into an outlet and an inlet by the segregation of upper and lower portions thereof with a member 48 extending diagonally across the opening, in horizontal alignment with its associated heat exchanger. By this arrangement, each chamber is provided at the front with an inlet or outlet communicating with the enclosure, and it is provided at the rear with an inlet or outlet communicating with the air outdoors. As will be explained hereinafter, the inlets and outlets are provided with doors or other suitable closure means for controlling the direction and amount of air flow into the chambers and, therefore, through the compartments. It can be appreciated that air is admissible to an inlet chamber of a compartment through either the front Wall or the rear wall, and discharged from the outlet chamber of the opposite wall of the same compartment, either through the front wall or the rear wall, de pending upon which inlets and outlets are opened and which inlets and outlets are closed.

Each inlet and each outlet to a compartment, 28 or 39, is closed by a door. And the associated doors for the inlet and outlet of a compartment, at both the front and the rear, are commonly hinged on the member 48. Broadly stated, the above-described doors provide a closure for each inlet and outlet comprising an opening to a compartment; and they are movable to open or close one or both of the compartments to the outdoors, and to open or close one or both of the compartments to the enclosure; however, the effect of moving these doors to various positions will be discussed in detail hereinafter.

Doors 6% and 62 respectively close the outlet and inlet at the front of the condenser compartment 28 and they are respectively associated with doors 6% and 66 which face outdoors and serve to close the outlet and inlet of condenser compartment 28 at the rear. Similarly, doors 72 and 74 respectively close the outlet and inlet to the front of the evaporator compartment 30, and they are respectively associated with rear outlet door 68 and rear inlet door 70. For the present, it will suffice to say that each of the front doors of the apparatus, shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, is manually movable by pushing or pulling upon a knob 76, and that the doors associated with each chamber are linked together by means of a horizontally extending rod 78 pivotally connected at its opposite ends to the inner surfaces of the respective doors. (See FIG. 5.) The rods 78 space apart the inner surfaces of corresponding portions of associated front and rear doors of each chamber a greater distance than the depth of the casing 10; and, thus, each rod causes a rear door to be open at the same time that its associated front door is Operation Regardless of the type of closure employed, whether it be the kind shown in FIG. 1, or FIG. 6, or FIG. 7,-

the basic internal plan of the apparatus, as shown most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3, permits the apparatus to heat, cool, dehumidify and ventilate an enclosure by the simple method of transposing air streams rather than the reversal of refrigerant flow. The positions of the closures in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 5 are shown in FIGS. to 13. In the oh position of FIG. 10, all openings in the front wall 14 of the casing 18 are closed in order to prevent the flow of outside air into the enclosure.

For dehumidifying an enclosure the compartments 2% and 30 are opened at the front to the enclosure and closed at the rear to the outdoors, as shown in FIG. 11 thus cooling enclosure air and condensing part of its moisture. The condensate is drained off by suitable means (not shown). Also at the same time, other enclosure air is circulated through the condenser compartment 28 where it is heated before returning to the enclosure. The net effect on enclosure air is dehumidification with only a small increase in temperature.

As shown in FIG. 12, the doors of the casing it) are adapted to close the condenser compartment 23 to the enclosure and open it to the outdoors, and to open the evaporator compartment to the enclosure and close it to the outdoors when cooling enclosure air.

For heating enclosure air, the casing 10/, as seen in FIG. 13, is positioned to close the evaporator compartment 30 to the enclosure and open it to the outdoors, and to open the condenser compartment 28 to the enclosure and close it to the outdoors.

With the refrigeration system shut-off, ventilation may be accomplished through compartment 28 by operating the air translating apparatus 41 and positioning the doors, as in FIG. 5, so that outdoor air may be drawn past open door 66 into the inlet chamber, thence into the outlet chamber and discharged past open dor 6t) to the en closure. Without having to reverse the direction of fan rotation, it is possible to exhaust air fro-m the enclosure to the outdoors by closing front outlet door 69, thus simultaneously opening rear outlet door 64, and closing rear inlet door 66 incident to opening front inlet door 62. Ventilation and exhausting through compartment 30 can be accomplished in a similar manner.

Modifications Like reference numerals are employed to identify like components for the several embodiments of the invention.

The modified casing construction of FIGS. 6 and 8 employs as a closure for each opening, instead of a pair of hinged doors, a flexible sheet which is attached to its associated member 48 and adapted to be flexed about a diagonal line that is in horizontal alignment with the same member. The heat exchangers and air translating apparatus are omitted from FIGS. 6 and 8 in order to clarify the illustration, but it is preferred that they be arranged as in FIG. 3. This type of closure is thought to be aesthetically better than hinged doors, because converging, diagonal, hinge lines divide the face of the unit into unbalanced areas. Sheets 80 and 82, respectively, serve as front and rear closures for the front and rear openings, each opening comprising an inlet and outlet to the condenser compartment 28; and sheets 84 and 86, respectively, serve as front and rear closures for openings to the condenser compartment 30. Only closure sheets 8% and 82, and their cooperating parts will be described in detail, however, since they are structurally representative of corresponding parts associated with evaporator compartment 30.

assaa'ro Thismodified type of closure, as for example sheet 80, ordinarily lies'flat and vertical; and it tends to remain so, except when its diagonally opposite corners are deflected outwardly of the casing 10 by the application of force transmitted to these corners through movable push rods 87 and 88. The latter are movable, as in FIG. 6 at sheet 80,,by a rotatable cam 89 disposed at the front of com partment 30 between the inner ends of its cooperating push rods 87 and 88.

Cam 89 is mounted for rotational movement with a shaft 93 which can be turned from the front of the cabinet by means of a knob 91. Shaft 90 extends from front to rear; it is suitably journaled in the cross members 48; and a cam 92, similar to cam 89, is mounted at the rear end of shaft 99. Each of the cams 89 and 92 has its high spots located 180 degrees apart; however, relative to each other, the high spots of the respective cams 89 and 92 are out of phase 90 degrees in terms of rotation of knob 91. With this arrangement, knob 91 may be rotated to move push rods 87 and 8S apart and exert an opening force on front sheet while, at the same time, cam 92 allows rear sheet 82 to close and move its push rods 87 and 88 toward each other under the inherent biasing action of rear sheet 82. Likewise, knob 91 may be rotated degrees to close front sheet 80 and open rear sheet 82 relative to their respective openings. A similar closure operating mechanism is provided for the sheets 84 and 86 of compartment 30'.

It is further contemplated that the closure operating mechanisms for both compartments may be interconnected in order to effect, by the movement of one knob, the positioning of all doors appropriate to either heating, cooling, etc.; however, such an arrangement is not shown for the sake of brevity and clearness.

The modified casing construction of FIGS 7 and 9 is intended to house air translating apparatus and a refrigeration system (not shown), preferably to be arranged therewithin as in FIGS. 2 and 3, and it employs, as a still further alternate closure construction, a slidable assembly 95 for each compartment. Only one such assembly will be described in detail since it is structurally representative of the other.

Evaporator compartment 30 is closed at the front by a rigid plate 96 and closed at the rear by a similar plate 97. Plates 96 and 97 are rigidly connected by a pair of ties or members 98, also serving as glides which permit slidable movement of the assembly 95 on supports 99. If preferred, tracks may be used in place of supports 99.

The members 98 are of sufficient length to space the front plate 96 from the rear plate 97 a greater distance than the depth of the cabinet 10, measured from front to rear. With this arrangement, the rear plate 97 will close the compartment 30 at the rear when the assembly 95 is in the extreme forward position and the front opening to the compartment 39 is fully opened. Conversely, the rear opening to compartment 30 will be opened when its front opening is fully closed.

It is preferred to prevent air entering the inlet chamber of a compartment from mingling with air leaving the compartment from its outlet chamber. This is accomplished in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 5 by the hinged doors acting as baihes when opened to minimize the comingling of entering and leaving air. Likewise, the deflectable sheet closures of the embodiment of FIGS. 6 and 8 similarly serve as baffles when they are opened. Bathing is accomplished between the inlet and outlet to each compartment, at both the front and rear thereof, in the embodiment of FIGS. 7 and 9 by means of a pleated bathe tilt) which is horizontally extendible and diagonally spans the opening to the compartment, in alignment with the obliquely disposed heat exchanger, (not shown in FIGS. 7 and 9). The bathe 100 may be suitably secured along one edge thereof to the inner surface of its associated rigid closure plate; and the rear edge of the same 7 bafiie may be attached to the adjacent edge of the heat exchanger. In operation, the bafiie 100 is folded and compressed when its associated closure plate is in a closed position, and it is horizontally extendible when its asso ciated'plate is in a fully opened position.

The modified casing of FIGS. 7 and 9, like that of FIGS. 6 and 8, is believed to lend itself to attractive styling, since the closures are plain and they divide the front of the easing into well proportioned areas.

It may now be seen that switching over from one operation to another, as for example from heating to cooling, may be accomplished simply and inexpensively. Furthermore, in apparatus constructed according to the invention, a reversing valve is not required, and these advantages of manufacturing economy are obtained without sacrificing overall compactness of the casing 16.

While the invention has been shown in several forms, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various other changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for conditioning air for an enclosure within a building comprising in combination, a casing including a first wall and a second wall; said casing being provided interiorly with two compartments each extending between said first and second Walls; a condenser in one of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto; an evaporator in the other of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto, said condenser and sures for the openings to said chambers adapted to open the inlet chambers either to the enclosure or to the air outdoors and to open the outlet chambers either to the enclosure or to the air outdoors.

2. Air conditioning apparatus for heating, cooling or dehumidifying air for an enclosure comprising in combination, a casing comprising a Wrapper, a front wall closing one end of said wrapper, and a rear wall closing the other end of said wrapper; partition means within said casing extending between said front and rear walls and dividing the interior of said casing into two compartments; a condenser in one of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto; an evaporator in the other of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto; said condenser and said evaporator being disposed diagonally across their respective compartments to divide them into first and second chambers each of which extends from said front wall to said rear wall and is of generally triangular cross section taken transversely of the front to rear extent thereof; means establishing with said condenser and said evaporator a refrigeration circuit for the unidirectional how of refrigerant therethrough; said front wall and said rear wall each having openings to therespective compartments formed therein, the openings in said front wall providing communication with the enclosure, and'the openings in said rear wall providing communication with the air outdoors; closure means for each of said openings; said closure means'being movable to close said compartments to the outdoors and open said compartments to the enclosure when said apparatus is dehumidifying enclosure air; said closure means being movable to close said one compartment to the outdoors and open it to the enclosure, and to open the other compartment to the enclosure and close it to the outdoors, when said apparatus is heating enclosure air; and said closure means being movable to open said one compartment to the outdoors and to close it to the enclosure, and to close the other compartment to the enclosure and open it to the outdoors, when said apparatus is cooling enclosure air. J

3. Apparatus for conditioning air for an enclosure within a building comprising in combination, a casing including a front wall adaptedto face indoors and a rear walladapted to face outdoors; said casing being provided interiorly with two compartments each extending between said front and rear walls; a condenser in one of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto; an evaporator in the other of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto; said condenser and said evaporator dividing their respective compartments into inlet and outlet chambers which extend from the front Wall to the rear wall and aretriangular in cross section; said front wall having openings of triangular configuration for the respective inlet and outlet chambers formed therein which are aligned with their respective chambers and provide communication between the respective chambers and the enclosure, said rear wall having openings comprising an inlet and an outlet of triangular configuration formed therein which are aligned with their respective inlet and outlet chambers and provide communication between the respective chambers and the air outdoors; closures for the openings to said chambers; and means interconnecting the closures for the front and rear openings of each chamber so that they are movable to open their associated chamber to the outdoors and to close the same to the enclosure, and to open their associated chamber to the enclosure and to close the same to the outdoors.

4. Apparatus for conditioning air for an enclosure within a building comprising in combination, a casing including imperforate tubular wall structure extending through an opening in a wall of said building, a front wall adapted to face indoors and closing one end of said wall structure, and a rear wall adapted to face outdoors and closing the other end of said wall structure; a partition within said casing extending between. said front and rear walls and dividing the interior of said casing into two compartments;

a condenser-heat exchanger in one of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto, an evaporator-heat exchanger in the other of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto; each of said heat exhangers extending from front to rear in its associated compartment and diagonally thereacross to define in each compartment a pair of chambers, each of said chambers extending from said front wall to said rear wall and being of triangular cross-sectional area transversely of the front to rear eX- tent thereof; each of said air supplying means being disposed entirely in one chamber of its associated compartment and comprising: a fan arranged adjacent its associated heat exchanger, and a motor for driving said fan disposed in an apical region of the cross-sectional area of said one chamber, said motor having a shaft axis extending into said apical region and generally normally to the extent of its associated heat exchanger; a compressor, flow connections between said heat exchangers and said compressor establishing a refrigeration circuit; said front wall and said rear wall each having openings to the spective compartments, the openings in said front wall providing communication with the enclosure, and the openings in said rear wall providing communication with the air outdoors; and closures for said openings movable to open or close one or both of said compartments to the outdoors and to open or close one or both of said compartments to the enclosure, depending upon whether said apparatus is heating, cooling, or dehumidifying the enclosure.

5. Apparatus for conditioning air for an enclosure within a building comprising in'combination, a casing including a front wall adapted to face indoors and a rear Wall adapted to face outdoors; said casing being provided interiorly with two compartments each extending between said front and rear walls; a condenser-heat exchanger in one of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto; an evaporator-heat exchanger in the other of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto, said heat exchangers each dividing their respective compartments into inlet and outlet chambers which extend from the front wall to the rear wall and are triangular in cross section; said front wall having openings formed therein providing communication between the respective chambers and the enclosure; said rear wall having open ings formed therein providing communication between the respective chambers and the air outdoors; and a member for each opening arranged in alignment with its associated heat exchanger and dividing each opening into an inlet and outlet arranged in communicating alignment with the respective inlet and outlet chambers; and closures for the openings to said chambers adapted to open the inlet chambers either to the enclosure or to the air outdoors and to open the outlet chambers either to the enclosure or to the air outdoors; the closures for the inlet and outlet of each of the openings in the front and rear walls being mounted on their associated dividing member for angular movement thereon to provide a baflie at each opening to a compartment for preventing the co-mingling of inlet air and outlet air.

6. Air conditioning apparatus of the self-contained type for heating, cooling or dehumidifying air for an enclosure within a building comprising in combination, a casing comprising an imperforate wrapper extending through an opening in a wall of said building, a front wall adapted to face indoors and closing one end of said wrapper, and a rear wall adapted to face outdoors and closing the other end of said wrapper; a partition within said casing extending between said front and rear walls and dividing the interior of said easing into two compartments, each having upper and lower corners at the junction of said partition and said wrapper; a condenser in one of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto, an evaporator in the other of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto, said condenser and said evaporator each extending from front to rear and diagonally across its associated compartment from one corner thereof to another so as to divide said compartment into inlet and outlet chambers each of which extends from said front wall to said rear wall and is of triangular cross-sectional area transversely of the front to rear extent thereof; a compressor, flow connections between said condenser, said evaporator, and said compressor establishing a circuit for the unidirectional flow of refrigerant therethrough; said front wall and said rear wall each having openings to the respective compartments, the openings in said front wall providing communication with the enclosure, and the openings in said rear wall providing communication with the air outdoors; closure means for said openings; and means interconnecting the closure means associated with each chamber adapting said closure means to be movable to close said compartments to the outdoors and open said compartments to the enclosure when said apparatus is dehumidifying enclosure air; said interconnecting means adapting said closure means to be movable to close said one compartment to the outdoors and open it to the enclosure, and to close the other compartment to the enclosure and open it to the outdoors, when said apparatus is heating enclosure air; and said interconnecting means adapting said closure means to be movable to open said one compartment to the outdoors and to close it to the enclosure, and to open the other compartment and close it to the outdoors, when said apparatus is cooling enclosure air.

7. Apparatus for conditioning air for an enclosure within a building comprising in combination, a casing including a front wall adapted to face indoors and a rear wall adapted to face outdoors; said casing being provided in teriorly with two compartments each extending between said front and rear walls, a condenser-heat exchanger in one of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto; an evaporator-heat exchanger in the other of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto; said heat exchangers extending from front to rear and diago nally across their respective compartments; said front wall and said rear wall each having openings to the respective compartments, the openings in said front wall providing communication with the enclosure, and the openings in said rear wall providing communication with the air outdoors; and a movable closure for each of said openings comprising a flexible sheet closing said opening and deflectable, to open said opening, about a line which is in alignment with its associated heat exchanger and extends generally along a surface of said sheet through a central area thereof; said sheets being movable to open or close one or both of said compartments to the outdoors and to open or close one or both of said compartments to the enclosure.

8. Apparatus for conditioning air for an enclosure within a building comprising in combination, a casing including a front wall adapted to face indoors and a rear Wall adapted to face outdoors; said casing being provided interiorly with two compartments each extending between said front and rear walls; a condenser in one of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto; an evaporator in the other of said compartments and means for supplying air thereto; said condenser and said evaporator extending from front to rear and diagonally across their respective compartments so as to divide each compartment into inlet and outlet chambers which extend from said front wall to said rear wall; said front wall and said rear wall each having openings to the respective compartments, each of the openings in said front wall providing communication between the chambers of the compartment associated with that opening and the enclosure, and each of the openings in said rear wall providing communication between the chambers of the compartment associated with that opening and the air outdoors; a movable closure for each of said openings comprising a rigid plate, and means interconnecting the closure plates for the front and rear openings of each compartment; interconnected plates being movable to open their associated compartment to the outdoors and to close the same compartment to the enclosure, and to open their associated compartment to the enclosure and to close the same compartment to the outdoors.

9. Apparatus for conditioning air for an enclosure within a building comprising in combination, a casing including a front wall adapted to face indoors and a rear wall adapted to face outdoors; said casing being provided interiorly with two compartments each extending between said front and rear walls; a condenser-heat exchanger disposed diagonally and extending from front to rear in one of said compartments; an evaporator-heat exchanger disposed diagonally and extending from front to rear in the other of said compartments; means in each of said compartments for supplying air to the respective heat exchangers; the diagonal disposition of said heat exchangers dividing the respective compartments into inlet and outlet chambers each of which extends from front to rear and is of generally triangular crosssectional area; said front wall and said rear wall each having openings to the respective compartments, the openings in said front wall providing communication with the enclosure, and the openings in said rear wall providing communication with the air outdoors; and a pair of doors for each of said openings; the doors of each pair being hingeably mounted for movement about a common axis which is in alignment with its associated heat exchanger; and means interconnecting each door at the front of a compartment with a door at the rear thereof; said doors being movable to close the openings in the rear wall and open the openings in the front wall for dehumidifying said enclosure; said doors opering the evaporator compartment at the front and closing it at the rear, and closing the condenser compartment at the front and opening it at the rear for cooling said enclosure; said doors closing the evaporator compartment at the front and opening it at the rear, and opening the condenser compartment at' the front and closing it at the mentor heating said closure; the doors of at least one compartment being movable to open one chamber at the front and close it at the rem, and toopen the other chamber at the rear and close it at the'front to ventilate said enclosure.

References'Cited'in the fileofthis petent UNITED STATES PATENTS Atchison Mar. 24, 

